Prof. Robrecht Raedt (PhD)

Glioma and glioblastoma are forms of brain cancer which are often associated with epilepsy. Standard treatment of these brain cancers consists of resective surgery (if possible) in combination with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 
In case of glioblastoma, unfortunately, despite this standard of care median overall survival is only 16 months. So, there is an urgent need for new and better therapies. 
Patient with brain cancer, that do survive, often suffer from cognitive and emotional problems caused by the cancer therapies. Also frequently they continue to have epilepsy. 

4BRAIN has three main research lines focusing on brain cancer:

• Preclinical testing of various combinations of repurposed drugs which undermine survival pathways of glioblastoma cells to further block glioblastoma growth and improve survival
• Testing new anti-epileptic drugs and/or interventions for glioma-associated epilepsy
• Protecting the brain from deteriorative effects of cranial radiotherapy by boosting noradrenaline signaling in the brain 
   

Robrecht Raedt was born September 19, 1980 in Kortrijk (Belgium). He obtained his Masters degree in Biology at Ghent University (Belgium) in 2002. In 2007, he successfully completed his PhD research at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Ghent University. The topic of his PhD research was 'Cell Therapy for Epilepsy'. This work implicated isolation and culture of stem cells, biochemical characterization of cell clones, cell grafting in various epilepsy models, immunohistochemistry, etc... .  He worked as a postdoc at 4BRAIN on unraveling the mechanism of action of neurostimulation therapies for epilepsy. This work involved techniques such as microdialysis and intracranial electrophysiology in rats and single-unit recording in humans. Robrecht Raedt was also associated to the University of Lethbridge (Dr. McNaughton lab) from 2012 to 2014 to investigate the neural dynamics leading to the development of  spontaneous epileptic seizures using high density recordings in the hippocampus of rodent models for epilepsy. Currently, Robrecht Raedt is appointed as Associate Research Professor at Ghent University focusing on glioma-associated epilepsy, modulation of epileptic brain networks using opto- and chemogenetics. Since January 2018 he is appointed as Department Head of Animal Facility of the Faculty of Medicine of Ghent University.  
 

• dr. Jelle Vandersteene (MD, PhD) - shared research project
• Thibault Lootens - doctoral fellow
• Isabeau De Bie - doctoral fellow
• Lien De Schaepmeester - technician 
   

• Comparison of In Vivo and Ex Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging in a Rat Model for Glioblastoma-Associated Epilepsy, Diagnostics 2021 (PMID: 34441246)
• Development of a Rat Model for Glioma-Related Epilepsy IJMS 2020 (PMID: 32977526 ) 
   

• Lab address: 4BRAIN, Campus UZ Gent, C. Heymanslaan 10, 
  The Core, ingang 37, 9000 Gent, Belgium 
• 4BRAIN lab 
• Ugent Research Explorer
• LinkedIn 
• Google Scholar 
• Prof. Raedt is involved in the GATE network
  and provides services for
  - Video-EEG monitoring
  - Ex vivo electrophysiology
  - Animal models
• Robrecht Raedt is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks